SCoPEd frequently asked questions
A ground-breaking shared framework for our profession

2. Does the SCoPEd framework help deliver BACP member priorities? 

SCoPEd is key in delivering three of BACP members’ five main priorities highlighted in our 2023 member survey. 

• setting standards for the profession
• protecting clients from unsafe or unethical practice, and
• providing members with resources that support professional and ethical practice

3. How will the SCoPEd framework help therapists and trainees?

The SCoPEd framework will showcase the value of all our members as highly skilled professionals. It will:

• enable opportunities for growth for all BACP members at all stages of their professional journey, without having to retrain
• bring greater clarity to the profession with a unique shared framework adopted by six PSA accredited bodies
• showcase our members’ skills, knowledge and experience, bringing greater credibility to the profession
• encourage a diverse and varied profession accessible by therapists with very different backgrounds and types of training, knowledge and experience
• give employers and commissioners a single framework to use, which will help the profession become better understood, valued and trusted by those who employ our members and commission our services

By ensuring our profession is better understood, valued and trusted, we believe the SCoPEd framework will increase access to paid opportunities for all members to thrive, wherever they’re represented in the framework.

4. How will the SCoPEd framework help employers, commissioners and wider society? 

The SCoPEd framework:

• presents a clearer picture of the wider counselling and psychotherapy profession, showing collaboration across the profession for the first time
• distinguishes highly trained and qualified counsellors and psychotherapists – which includes all BACP members aligned to the framework columns – from those who undertake trainings which fall far short of the minimum requirements identified in the SCoPEd framework
• gives greater clarity about the range of skills that different counsellors and psychotherapists can provide
• maps shared minimum training standards, knowledge and experience – agreed by six professional bodies – that are required for counsellors and psychotherapists working with adults
• enables employers and commissioners to make more evidence-based and informed choices by improving their understanding of the skills, knowledge and experience of a range of qualified therapists who have met the SCoPEd framework standards

Ultimately, the SCoPEd framework enables BACP registered, accredited and senior accredited members to have greater access to more opportunities to provide professional help for people across society.

5. How will the SCoPEd framework help encourage diversity and inclusion?

We recognise and value different entry routes to counselling and psychotherapy.

The diverse range of backgrounds, approaches, philosophies and professional training that our members bring to their work is a huge strength of BACP, and the SCoPEd framework will further enhance and embed that diversity.

Ensuring fair access to the profession is critically important for trainees and clients and a key part of our Equality, diversity and inclusion strategy.

SCoPEd is an inclusive framework that will encourage a diverse and varied profession by:

• ensuring different points of entry for different people at different levels – for example, the framework recognises that you are a qualified therapist with a level 4 qualification or a level 7 qualification
• laying out more accessible routes for progression regardless of where you first enter the framework – for example, enabling all members to move between membership categories (and therefore SCoPEd framework columns), without having to retrain

We believe that having transparent and flexible mechanisms to move between membership categories (and therefore the SCoPEd columns) will make it easier for all members to progress, including those from diverse backgrounds and marginalised and disadvantaged communities.

In time, the SCoPEd framework will help to significantly change the demographic of therapists at those levels which are currently very underrepresented and difficult to enter unless you do specific core training.

6. How will the SCoPEd framework enable opportunities for progression? 

Until now there has been no shared framework. As a result, you were faced with an often-bewildering range of options with no clear pathways for you to identify and choose to focus on for your professional development.

The SCoPEd framework will enable you to plan and develop your professional journey with much more certainty and understanding.

Throughout BACP’s transition stage eligible members who want to apply for accreditation or senior accreditation can do so using our transition accreditation mechanisms, From early 2026 more new accreditation routes to move between membership categories will be introduced. However, you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to. You’ll still be able to provide all the services you currently do and practise competences in other SCoPEd columns providing you have the right skills, knowledge, training and experience to do so.

7. How will the SCoPEd framework bring greater credibility to the profession? 

SCoPEd will give greater clarity about the range of skills, knowledge, training and experience that different counsellors and psychotherapists can provide.

It’ll present a clearer picture of the wider counselling and psychotherapy profession, showing collaboration across the profession in this way for the first time in a shared professional standards framework.

It’ll enable employers and commissioners to distinguish highly trained and qualified counsellors and psychotherapists – like all BACP members who are aligned to the framework from those who undertake trainings which fall far short of the minimum requirements identified in the SCoPEd framework. 

The SCoPEd framework is far more credible than each membership body developing its own professional standards framework, which would create a lack of consistency and clarity across our profession.

8. Why does BACP believe the SCoPEd framework will increase access to paid opportunities for members?

The SCoPEd framework is a tool enabling us to better represent and describe what all our members can do, wherever they are represented in the framework. This will enable employers and commissioners to make more evidence-based and informed choices by improving their understanding of the skills, knowledge and experience of a range of qualified therapists who have met the SCoPEd framework standards.

It’ll help the profession become better understood, valued and trusted by those who employ our members and commission our services.

With the leading professional bodies working together with one voice and acting collectively in the interests of clients, we’ll be able to engage more effectively with key external stakeholders like employers, commissioners and government.

We believe this mix of increased engagement with key stakeholders and the clearer representation within the framework of the skills, knowledge, experience and value that our members can bring to the clients, employers and commissioners you work with is vitally important.

We truly believe that the SCoPEd framework will create access to more paid opportunities for you at all stages of your professional journey.

9. How will the SCoPEd framework make it easier to campaign for paid roles for column A members, or those who have not sought accreditation?

Services have welcomed the framework because it’s a way of understanding the different membership categories across organisations as well as giving greater clarity about the range of skills that different counsellors and psychotherapists can provide, especially those in column A.

We believe it will help to create paid employment opportunities for people in column A by distinguishing highly trained and qualified counsellors and psychotherapists from those who undertake trainings which fall far short of the minimum requirements identified in the SCoPEd framework. 

It’s already had a positive effect, for example, one particular employee assistance programme (EAP) organisation has removed the requirement to be accredited and are looking at the evidence of what they need for their counselling services with more following. Alongside this, and as a direct result of our advocacy work with employers, there’s a growing recognition that affiliate counsellor rates (the hourly rate paid to counsellors working for employers on a self-employed basis) need to and will increase.

We’re advocating for all our members, building links and relationships with policy makers and working closely with organisations, commissioners and employers, across all sectors in which we know our members could contribute to a workforce and importantly, for them to be appropriately paid for the work they do.